Kansas City has the world's tallest bishop. Here, actually, Bishop Finn climbs a ladder to anoint the twelve crosses on the wall in the church. The imagery is from Revelation, where John describes the Wall of the Great City, Jerusalem, having 12 foundations - the 12 Apostles.

Great pictures! This consecration also featured a ceremony with sand that I had never seen before. It was done in the pre-1962 missal, of course, and involved making a large X with sand and inscribing all the letters of the Latin and Greek alphabets in the sand. It was to symbolize the universality of the Church.

Yes, that’s what it’s for - in fact, you will see it in about the 3rd photo down.

Incidentally, in the old days, the consecration of a church was considered such a complicated ceremony (with the bishop climbing up and down the ladders to annoint the walls, etc.) that the church was frequently closed for the event and lay people did not attend.

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